The best news we could get beofre the 05 bows

falchulk · Mar 9, 2004

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Saveonacar/P77285.asp

Its about time. Maybe this is where we they claw back to the top. I sure as hell hope so.

GelatiCruiser · Mar 9, 2004

"Still has 50% more problems" than some Euro cars....ouch.

mp67 · Mar 9, 2004

falchulk said:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Saveonacar/P77285.asp

Its about time. Maybe this is where we they claw back to the top. I sure as hell hope so.

Trouble is, the BMW's and such are not hurting them, the Asian market cars are. And the report said American models still have 50% more problems than their Asian competition. Long ways to go.

falchulk · Mar 9, 2004

Yes, but this shows things are changing. The best part is its just the begining. The fact that Ford finally got its act together on the focus shows that they can match the japanese brands in quality. It may be just in my head but I think they are going to make a statement with the 05 mustang.

5iveL173r · Mar 9, 2004

Now if only they could make the focus less ugly...

66Satellite · Mar 9, 2004

The only problem with this is that Consumer Reports is written by and for idiots.

falchulk · Mar 9, 2004

But those idiots are the ones that complan the most. That means the numbers are skewed higher then real life.

PimpDaddyGT · Mar 9, 2004

After years of dogging the Focus, they finally realize that it is a great car. I put 30k miles on my ZX5 and didn't do a thing to it other than change the oil. Most of the recalls were proative and many companies wouldn't have bothered to do it. Glad to see Ford is really turning it around. All American Auto makers for that matter. My last 5 cars have been Fords and I'm pretty sure my next one will be too.

Eric

DBMSTNG · Mar 9, 2004

falchulk said:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Saveonacar/P77285.asp

Its about time. Maybe this is where we they claw back to the top. I sure as hell hope so.

don't look for the quality turnaround to happen anytime soon. with all the new models coming out soon, there are bound to be some problems.

falchulk · Mar 9, 2004

DBMSTNG said:
don't look for the quality turnaround to happen anytime soon. with all the new models coming out soon, there are bound to be some problems.

I hope you are wrong about that. Hopefully with all this testing Ford has learned not to release a car before its ready.

JaysGreenLX · Mar 9, 2004

falchulk said:
I hope you are wrong about that. Hopefully with all this testing Ford has learned not to release a car before its ready.

Every car regardless of the amount of testing has first year problems. It usually takes that first year to work out all the bugs. Testers can't always account for the crazy crap people end up doing with and to their cars.

Back to the topic. As much as I like my Mustang I would probably steer clear of an American car in the future. Last month GM recalled 2.5 million cars!! That is just one month!

Back in the 60's when Japan adopted the idea of Total Quality Management (TQM) they really set the standard for reliability. The US automakers poo pooed the idea but have learned that it was the way to build cars so now they are playing catch up.

falchulk · Mar 10, 2004

I have owned only American cars for 15 years and never had an issue. 2 of them were 1st year cars.

Wylde · Mar 10, 2004

I have owned 1 first year car and it was one of the best cars I had ever owned. It was a leased car and I replaced it with another similar car on the same chassis. I think it's like falchuck said...hopefully Ford learned this leason and are testing the crap out of this car before it's released to the public. I am hopeful that the 1st model year will be just as good as the 3rd or 4th.

falchulk · Mar 10, 2004

Heh heh, wouldnt you know it?

http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/10/pf/autos/ford_recall/index.htm?cnn=yes

kirkyg · Mar 10, 2004

66Satellite said:
The only problem with this is that Consumer Reports is written by and for idiots.

Yep!

The article is ASS BACKWARDS...Daimler chrylser is THE WORST BY FAR of the so called big 3 (even though they are no longer an American owned company). There are documented notorious transmission problems from the minivans to the trucks. I had two dodge rams (98 & 01) and both had transmission rebuilds within 22k miles and one the torque converter discentegrated on it. They had a huge report on 20-20 about the severe accidents caused my durango and dakota wheels coming off due to premature ball joint failures in the front suspension. The suspension complaints were 745 for durango alone, 14 for chevy trailblazer, and 12 for ford explorer (in 2003). I dont know how you could possibly say that chrysler has an affective 16 complaints out of 100 as compared to higher for ford or chevy. THERE IS NO WAY!

Id also like to add that the only way possible that european cars can be considered less reliable than japanese OR american auto's is if they completely remove german made cars. That accounts for the majority of the cars under european creation. Germans make some DAMN good cars and they are basically saying that BMW and mercedes make 'Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me'. This article is full of crap no doubt.

kirkyg

SVTdriver · Mar 10, 2004

Actually look at that study further. Domestic cars are only 6 away from import cars. In first year. But by 3 years old. Domestic is still only 6 away. Not 50% anymore. Closer to about 10%. Which seems to indicate that as long as you only own your import for 1-2 years. It's better car. But at 3 years or more. It's nearly the same as domestics.

66Satellite · Mar 10, 2004

kirkyg said:
Yep!

The article is ASS BACKWARDS...Daimler chrylser is THE WORST BY FAR of the so called big 3 (even though they are no longer an American owned company). There are documented notorious transmission problems from the minivans to the trucks. I had two dodge rams (98 & 01) and both had transmission rebuilds within 22k miles and one the torque converter discentegrated on it. They had a huge report on 20-20 about the severe accidents caused my durango and dakota wheels coming off due to premature ball joint failures in the front suspension. The suspension complaints were 745 for durango alone, 14 for chevy trailblazer, and 12 for ford explorer (in 2003). I dont know how you could possibly say that chrysler has an affective 16 complaints out of 100 as compared to higher for ford or chevy. THERE IS NO WAY!

Id also like to add that the only way possible that european cars can be considered less reliable than japanese OR american auto's is if they completely remove german made cars. That accounts for the majority of the cars under european creation. Germans make some DAMN good cars and they are basically saying that BMW and mercedes make 'Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me'. This article is full of crap no doubt.

kirkyg

I've read that there have been a lot of electrical/computer gremlins in the Bimmer 7 series, and there were a lot of problems with the new Beetle, so the Germans aren't perfect. I think it's hard to generalize about any one country or company--really depends on how a specific car was engineered and where it was built. Also depends on the type of person who owns a car and how it gets driven--sure Camrys are "more reliable" than Mustangs, but then they don't get flogged on a daily basis. If you really want to know how good a SPECIFIC car is, ask the poor techs who have to work on them every day. Thanks to the internet, it's pretty easy to do--I've seen quite a few techs who lurk on various boards, especially muscle car boards. One of the many reasons I like buying used cars is, with a little research, it's easy to find out which ones will be a good bet. There are plenty of American cars that will be quite solid and reliable, but thanks to the overall impression that American cars stink, you'll be able to pick 'em up cheap (say vs. a used Accord or Camry). Then it's just a matter of finding an owner who did the routine maintenance and didn't treat the car like total cr@p. But most people who buy stuff based on Consumer Reports recommendations probably don't know where the hood release is on their car--I wouldn't trust these kinds of people to tell me which cars are well built.

SVTdriver · Mar 10, 2004

IMHO the majority of consumer reports readers aren't likely to be buying a mustang anyway. Have they ever done an article on the best sportscar/musclecar?

spanky442 · Mar 10, 2004

IMO, there are cars out there that will fall apart no matter what. But for the most part its all about preventive maintaining. I've seen American cars hit the 200K+ mark. The only thing is they require more preventive care. As long as you keep up with oil changes, tune ups, etc. you should be fine.

SVTdriver · Mar 10, 2004

200k should be no problem. My friend's 98 Cobra has over 135k and runs like they day he bought it.

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